So She'll Be His Cradle
by RosieBrie
Summary: Fate can be cruel, and carnage, an opportunist. Rapunzel never gives up on her friends.


**_A/N: _****_Title from Annabella Annbee's English cover of "Hijo de la Luna."  
I'm so tired ugghh I just wanted to get this posted because it's been sitting in my drafts since July._**

* * *

_One… two… three…_

_ One… two… three…_

_ One… two… three…_

Each breath rattled, ragged and shallow in his chest, and he grit his teeth as stabbing pain pierced through his side. The fabric of his shirt clung sticky and hot to his skin, feeling all at once distant and suffocating as a dark stain materialized there. Varian couldn't move, but he didn't need to in order to know it was _bad._ The sheer agony was telling enough. Footsteps, padding soft and frantic, alerted him vaguely to the princess as she bent down and gathered him up in her arms. A sob escaped her.

"V-Varian!"

He was floating, intangible, the piercing rocks pinning him somewhere between earth and sky before they just as swiftly retracted. The princess was… somewhere. Calling. His name perhaps? He wished he could free that worry from her eyes. Eugene and Lance appeared beside her in an instant and he tried desperately for a response, choking her name feebly. The word died on his lips as he wondered if the plan had worked.

* * *

_ "—arian! Varian!"_ Rapunzel's fingers trembled, clasped tightly around the edge of Varian's shirt. An ever-spreading stain marred the fabric, dampened by a mixture of his blood and her tears. She dabbed at the spittle dripping down his chin, and shouted over her shoulder for someone- anyone- to help her dress and wrap the wound. "N—no, no no…" She couldn't bring her eyes up. She couldn't bring herself to acknowledge that otherworldly pallor, that dull, slackened countenance. But focusing on the injury itself was infinitely worse. She turned her head as a sudden bout of nausea gripped her. Unrelenting tears leaked from her eyes in a continuous stream and a hand came to rest upon her shoulder. Rapunzel startled at the contact, gazing up to meet Eugene's solemn face. His eyes shimmered in response and she _hated_ that they _couldn't get it together_ when Varian _needed_ their help—

"Blondie…"

"He's bleeding out, it's too much—too much blood… if the rocks were still there then maybe—"

"Rapunzel."

"But they aren't and—" The spike had disintegrated the moment they'd defeated Zhan Tiri, and now the boy she had come to hold so dear was… was…

_ "Rapunzel."_ Eugene's tone, strained and on the verge of hysteria himself, was enough to bring her out of it. "Varian is… Varian's dead. I'm so sorry, sunshine."

"He, he can't be…!" She welcomed Eugene's embrace, sobbing into his shoulder and not caring that it was one of his good vests. They had come so far together, and for what? This? No, she couldn't accept that her young friend was gone. She eased his lifeless body down, cradling his head in her lap.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" She and Eugene were becoming broken records, but it just wasn't _fair_. A kid like Varian, for all his amazing talents, had no place on the dismal battlefield. And she made sure to voice such opinions.

"I know, you're right, blondie. It's what the kid chose. And you know he wouldn't let us stop him." Eugene clenched his eyes shut the last few words and Lance knelt in sorrowful silence to join them.

"The kid did always march to the beat of his own drum."

Rapunzel shook her head in disbelief. They had already moved on to the _past tense _while she was still here, hoping, and praying, for something— just any shred of hope. For all the burdens that came with being the Sundrop, she longed more than ever for her old healing gift. But alas, any vestiges of magic had withered away just as her roots had darkened.

"Rapunzel, look at me. It's gonna be okay…" Eugene's desperate words of comfort were drowned out by the hammering in her ears. Her fingers accidentally brushed Varian's arm, withdrawing with haste as they met ice cold flesh. A fresh sob rose to her lips.

A tall shadow draped hazily upon them, yet the three paid no mind. Rapunzel's breaths came in too quick until all at once, she remembered that they were not alone. She whirled, eyes wide and lost.

"_Y-you!_ You, you can fix this! You can save him!"

The Moon tilted her head in bemusement, regarding the grieving group silently for a moment. She seemed as unmarred by the horrors of the war as she had when first summoned. A regal, imposing Goddess in every sense of the word. Then, she spoke in a careful, leveled manner.

"I am the Moon. You should know better than any that I cannot bring him back, Sundrop..." Rapunzel's breath hitched in disappointment. But she would not be so easily defeated. She fixed her green eyes on the ethereal being imploringly.

"... but I can bring him forward." Moon spoke in a hushed, mild voice. Upon hearing this cryptic admittance, Eugene and Lance raised their heads in confusion, eyes glimmering with no small amount of hope

Rapunzel dared to exhale. "What… do you mean? You can? You can save him?" Wearily, the princess searched her face for any signs of deception.

"Tell me, Sundrop. Do you wish that this child have another chance? That he may grow, live a long, happy, prosperous life? Do you wish to see it so?"

"I... I—yes!" She exclaimed confidently. "Yes, of course I do!" It was true that Varian had made mistakes. He had made terrible, reckless decisions. But he'd never been the only one of them to blame. He was still so, _so_ young… had been, at least… And even so, he had worked so hard, made so many sacrifices, to come back from those mistakes. Rapunzel gathered her composure, taking a breath and steeling her gaze at the immortal woman.

"It just can't end here. Not like this. He never deserved this." By this time she hardly noticed the tracks of tears drying on her cheeks. Moon stared at her, almost in contemplation.

"I see." And suddenly, her eyes flashed inhumanely, visage cracking into jags of light as she lifted her right arm, palm open over Varian's body. Bright tendrils of pale yellow and silver-blue seeped from her fingers, circling the boy, ensnaring something deep inside him.

"What...?" Rapunzel gasped, nearly jerking away as Varian began to _evaporate_, fading into open air as an incorporeal figure. As if dealing with a puppet, Moon twisted the child, pulling him toward her until there was simply no discernible human-like shape at all. At the end of it, a core of precious blue light rested in her palm. Rapunzel exchanged horrified, bewildered looks with her companions.

"What did you do?! Where is he?!" Eugene snapped from slack-jawed shock to angry accusation in a heartbeat.

"Moon, I swear if this is some trick—!" Rapunzel joined him, and made to stand on wobbly legs.

"Patience, Your Highness." Though her tone dripped with boredom, the Moon Goddess looked almost vexed. "I am doing you a favor after all." Ever so slowly, she brought the light to her lips once, lingering there for a breathless moment, and then held it out to an astonished Rapunzel.

"This soul is moon-blessed. Take good care of it." In one precise movement, Moon had taken a step forward, traipsing like a soundless specter, and pressed the palm firmly, but gently against Rapunzel. The princess gave a jump at the bizarre contact and backed away, tracing the air above her abdomen where the Goddess had strayed. In one fell swoop, the Lady Moon disappeared into the night sky, and a surge of questions filled Rapunzel's mind.

"Wait! Wait—_Moon!_ _What have you done?! Where's Varian?!"_ Her shrieks filled the lonely battlefield until her lungs ached. Eventually, she gave in to Eugene and Lance's offers of comfort, holding them close as they each exchanged whispers of reassurance.

Elsewhere, hidden behind cloud, beyond star, the Moon gazed on.

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_**A/N: A couple of notes about this- I wrote it literally right after watching TTS for the first time (which was before season 3 aired).**_  
_**So Varian was not yet redeemed in my mind (I made that a little more ambiguous while editing). Also Cass isn't here because I was thinking she was off doing some soul-searching after the whole moonstone debacle. **_  
_**The "Moon Goddess" idea was inspired by izabellwit's "the long road back to home" series on ao3 (which is much better than this and you should all go read it right away), however the Moon featured here is by no means meant to be the same character.**_  
_**The idea was that the Moon (and not mentioned Sun Goddess) had to be summoned to help the protagonists destroy big baddie Zhan Tiri once and for all- and Varian's the one who figured out how to summon them. Of course, that pissed Zhan off, so she killed him.**_  
_**I was originally gonna end this with Varian's soul being reincarnated in the form of Rapunzel and Eugene's moon-powered daughter/son (didn't decide which), but meh, I'm lazy. Might make a sequel someday, who knows.**_  
_**But that's a wrap for now. I have another Tangled fic I'm working on right now that I'm way more excited about. ;D**_

_**~ With love, RosieBrie  
**_


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